Chapter 2 - Nikad The Master Swordsman
As Zerxes looked at the map he pinpointed exactly where the first treasure was. "Hmm, Logan it's in a castle not far from here" Zerxes says. "What is the treasure exactly?" Logan exclaims. "Umm, I'm not sure.." Zerxes says, "Ugh lets just go.." Logan says walking. "Hey I've been meaning to ask you, how did you get those claws of yours?" Zerxes asks Logan. "Well That's a story for another day, Bub" Logan says, as they reach a small quaint village. "Hmm, what's this place?" Zerxes says, "I don't know, But I don't have a very good feeling about this place.." Logan says. As Zerxes and Logan walked in, they felt very strange with this village, soon they knew what was wrong. The people here were starving, helpless, and hopeless. The town's only protectors are thugs, just robbing them of their only food and money they have. Zerxes didn't care, however Logan wondered why they had to be like this, Logan asked Zerxes "Hey, can you call a couple of your soldiers here to rough up those "Heroes" over there?" Zerxes replied with an assured no. "I would, but this village is not of my concern, my only cncern right now is finding where the first treasure is." Logan decides to use his claws and stop the problem himself. He saw one of the thugs trying to rob a man and a pregnant women. He rushed over and slashed at the thugs, the thugs ran away, at the sight of seeing Logan's claws. "Aren't you a brave one." said a Mysterious person. Logan looked at the person. His name was Nikad Deloma and he was 6'3. He wielded a giant sword and was considered to be a very good swordsmen. "Well, since you were brave enough to fight them, are you brave enough to go against their leader?" Logan prepared. Nikad got into stance with a smirk on his face. It had been too long since he’d had a good fight, and he was hoping this brave man would at least pose a challenge before inevitably meeting his end at the tip of a sword. A few thugs stepped forwards, but Nikad took a hand off the hilt of his sword for a moment to wave them off. Logan slashed his claws against each other, sending sparks flying, but apparently it did not intimidate his opponent, and he slowly got into stance as well. Seeing as Nikad wasn’t doing anything, Logan was also a tad hesitant, because perhaps this was all a trap. “C’mon little man… Or, are ya scared?” came Nikad’s taunt. Logan now charged forwards, ready to strike. Nikad raised his massive sword into a defensive position over his head, with the tip of the blade pointing forwards, and before Logan could even enter attack range he had to hop back when Nikad stabbed his sword forwards. Logan tried approaching again, but he was now prevented by a wide swing of Nikad’s sword, which had almost hit a townsperson neither of them noticed before. In fact, when they both looked around, they saw a small crowd had circled around them, consisting both of townspeople and thugs. The townspeople were cheering Logan on, tired of Nikad’s tyrannical reign. The thugs stayed silent, but were ready to cause chaos, whichever side won. Smirking again, Nikad now went on the offense, swinging his large sword horizontally time and time again, clashing with Logan’s claws and creating showers of sparks. They had just broken from one of these short clashes when a townsperson grew tired of the stalemate, and tossed a rock at Nikad. He was immediately pummeled by a group of thugs nearby for his transgression, but the damage was already done. When the rock hit Nikad in the side of the head, he quickly turned to try and find the source. It didn’t take him long to see the pile of thugs which had formed around the poor townsperson, but long enough that Logan could rush in and stab Nikad’s side with his claws. Nikad was lightly armored, so the claws punctured through all of his protection easily. As the claws dug into his flesh, he howled out in pain. Logan considered keeping the claws there for as long as he could, to cause Nikad pain for his actions against the village, but shortly pulled them out anyways. Clutching his side, Nikad fell to his knees. As he had dropped his massive sword, Logan went to pick it up, staggering with the weight of it at first. “Any last words?” asked Logan, who was pointing the tip of the blade at Nikad’s throat. Nikad paused, as the danger of his current situation finally dawned on him, and he realized he would most likely die. His blood would stain his own blade... The thugs slowly started to approach Logan from behind, but he heard them and quickly turned his head around, giving them such a glare that they awkwardly shuffled back into the crowd. Turning his attention back to Nikad, Logan began to slowly move the sword around, so that it just missed Nikad's throat, time and time again. "Please, stop!", came a most unexpected cry from Nikad. Logan abruptly stopped his movements, but, wanting to humiliate the proud tyrant father, pretended not to hear. "What was that? Speak louder please..." Nikad looked down in defeat, then quietly muttered, "I surrender... State your terms..." Logan thought for a moment. "Alright, then, this village now belongs to me and is under my rule, you have to leave and never return, and... all your thugs will be executed, with this sword." Nikad's eyes widened, and he looked up at Logan. "No, please, anything but..." Logan, now seeing he couldn't have any fun with this swordsman now that he gave up all of his pride, turned to look at Zerxes, to see if he had any ideas. "Perhaps he could join us on our journey, get no share of the treasure, and only have his sword returned when he proves trustworthy?" Logan turned back to the kneeling Nikad. "Well, it's not what I would do, but it's either that or have this sword through your neck..." Nikad eagerly nodded, most likely referring to the first one. Logan removed the sword from around Nikad's neck, and walked over to Zerxes. "Since it was your idea, you can carry this damn thing." Sighing, the unarmed Nikad stood up, feeling naked without his sword. Looking down, he began to walk just behind Logan and Zerxes, the latter of which appeared to be struggling greatly with his sword. The three walked out of the village, as cheers erupted from the townspeople due to the exile of their tyrannical ruler. Sighing, Nikad asked, "Where is this... treasure, anyways?" Zerxes, smirking, turned back to look at Nikad. "Let's just say, you'll be stuck with us for a while." Category:The Story of JEZA